RAIDER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Northwest Crossover Classic | Spokane, Wash
10 a.m. Saturday – vs. Montana State-Northern | Live Stats
10 a.m. Sunday – vs. No. 12 Rocky Mountain | Live Stats
LIVE STREAMS

ASHLAND – The 2026-27 season profiles as a transitional period for the Southern Oregon women's basketball team with an interim coach in place and its three leading scorers gone. To reach a seventh consecutive national tournament, the Raiders will have to surprise some people.

The mid-summer departure of Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt, who oversaw 135 SOU victories over five seasons, prompted the hiring of veteran coach David Heard to lead a team with one full-time starter back and a handful of question marks. Heard coached Crater High, where he was also an athletic director, for 12 seasons between 1995-2017. He formerly assisted Kloppenburg-Pruitt with recruiting efforts and has taken over with the help of Amber Adkisson, another ex-Crater coach who captured a state championship with the Comets in 2025.

They inherited nine total returners, four of whom were true freshmen on last season's 19-11 team. Two transfers are on board to help the team replace over 60% of its scoring production.

"I think we're still in the learning stage, and we know it's going to take time to get to where we need to be," Heard said. "We have a lot of experience, a whole new system, and I'm still trying to figure things out, too, but this team works extremely hard and is going to evolve as the season goes along."

PRESEASON POLLS
Only two wins separated the Cascade Conference's first- and sixth-place teams in 2025-26, and a lot of the same talent is back in what figures to be another highly-competitive circuit. College of Idaho was picked in the CCC preseason coaches' poll to win its first championship in 17 years, edging out Oregon Tech and defending co-champion Corban. The Raiders were predicted to finish sixth. The conference had two teams listed in this week's preseason NAIA Top 25, with C of I at No. 22 and Oregon Tech at No. 23. Corban, EOU and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) also received votes.

LAST SEASON
Behind All-CCC seniors Eliza DiGiulio and Bridgette McIntyre, the Raiders remained in championship contention despite graduating four all-stars from their 2024-25 team that started 34-0. They were part of a five-way tie for first place entering the final weekend of the regular season before finishing in a tie for fifth and landing the CCC's No. 6 seed. Despite an early exit from that tournament, they received an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament as a No. 9 seed. They fell to No. 8 seed Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in the first round, 83-64.

FIRST UP
Six teams from the CCC and six from the Frontier Conference will converge at Saint George's School in Spokane, Wash., for the Northwest Crossover Classic this weekend. There, the Raiders will open with Montana State-Northern on Saturday and see No. 12-ranked Rocky Mountain on Sunday. They'll face one more nationally-ranked opponent in non-conference play, No. 24 Carroll (Mont.) on Oct. 31, and they debut at home on Nov. 13 against Hope International (Calif.).

BACKCOURT
Keeley Wright, the only player who has been on the roster for four seasons, is back as the Raiders' floor general in her second year with the starting point guard job. The speedy senior averaged six points and was fourth in steals (2.3) and fifth in assists (3.5) among CCC players in 2025-26. She'll start alongside Jenika Zurita (4.5 points, 31 3-pointers), another senior who has been a rotation regular off the bench and will take on additional new duties as a backup point guard. Maitlin Young is also penciled in on the wing from Lane Community College, where she was an all-region performer. Young averaged 18.2 points on high efficiency as a sophomore, hitting 75 3-pointers, and will be depended on for more of the same immediately at SOU.

Shooting threat Taylee Clements (3.2 points) and the 5-foot-11 Millie Day (2.3 points) will step into larger roles as sophomores. The Raiders will also get to see what they have in Reyce Mogel and Mia Marquez, two guards coming off redshirts.

"I think we're going to have to be very disciplined in the half court to create open shots," Heard said. "There is a lot of potential with the backcourt and Maitlin's scoring ability is going to really help, but we have a handful of players still relatively new to the college game who are going to have to learn how to execute."

FRONTCOURT
Lydia Traore was an instant defensive force as a true freshman, ranking fifth in blocked shots (1.3), 14th in rebounds (5.6) and 20th in steals (1.2) on the CCC leaderboards in less than 20 minutes a game. With DiGiulio gone, SOU will now look to the 6-2 Crater product to increase her offensive volume, though she finished at a 50% rate and contributed 6.7 points a night last year.

With Traore as the centerpiece, the Raiders have more size in a pair of role players, 6-1 junior Gracie Arnold (3.1 points, 2.2 rebounds) and 5-11 junior Alex Bullock (3.1 points, 3.1 rebounds), who were part-time starters in their first season with the team. The final piece is the second newcomer to the roster, senior Dominican University (Calif.) transfer Adia Walker. Walker posted 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per appearances across 82 games with the Penguins despite being plagued by injury during the last batch of those.

"Lydia has emerged as a solid inside player and can be one of the best in the league," Heard said, "and we have some really good experience around her."